Field of the Invention and Related Art Statements
The present invention relates to an automatic chemical analyzer comprising an endless reaction line along which a plurality of reaction vessels are transported intermittently via a sample delivery position, a reagent delivery position and at least one photoelectrically measuring position.
Such an automatic chemical analyzer is disclosed in U.S. patent specification No. 4,406,547 issued on Sept. 27, 1983. In this known analyzer, each reaction vessel in the form of cuvette is not used repeatedly, but is discharged out of the reaction line after the measurememt using the relevant reaction vessel has been completed. To this end, the analyzer comprises an automatic cuvette loader for supplying reaction vessels successively onto a turntable and an automatic cuvette unloader for removing the reaction vessels from the turntable. Hereinbelow, this analyzer is termed a vessel wasting type.
There is further proposed another automatic chemical analyzer in which reaction vessels transported along an endless reaction line are repeatedly used. In this analyzer, after the measurement has been completed, the reaction vessel is washed to prepare a next measurement. Such an analyzer is called a vessel reusing type.
In the known analyzer of the vessel wasting type, a reaction vessel is wasted every time a single test has been done, so that the cost of the analysis is liable to be expensive.
In the known analyzer of the vessel reusing type, since reaction vessels are stained, damaged or deteriorated during repeated use, the reaction vessels have to be specially washed or exchanged periodically. Further, it is necessary to use new reaction vessels in accordance with test items or combinations thereof in view of contamination. In such a case, the reaction vessels have to be removed from the reaction line. However, in known analyzers of the vessel reusing type, the automatic cuvette loader and the automatic cuvette unloader are not provided, so that the cuvettes have to be exchanged manually. This operation is very cumbersome.